Curiosity
Patterns, crafts, magic squares and fun mathematical content not part of the school curriculum
Tangente Awards
The Tangente Awards were launched to celebrate creativity inspired by mathematics and its links with many other fields, including literature, computing and the arts. Run by the Club Tangente association, these initiatives invite our readers to take part or vote at this time each year.
Literature and mathematics: Perec joins the Pléiade
Perec in the Pléiade, Nabokov in Big Data, and mathematics in a "digest"
The mysteries of the Ishango bone | Tangente Magazine
The mysterious Ishango bone has not yet given up all its secrets
Paul Erdős and the probabilistic view of arithmetic
With the development of probability theory in the early 20th century, a new field of inquiry opened up in arithmetic: the statistical study of integers. Paul Erdős was among the first mathematicians to grasp the significance of this new approach.
Applying the Chinese remainder theorem to RSA cryptography
The Chinese remainder theorem finds, among other things, applications in cryptography
Chinese remainder theorem: history and applications | Tangente
The Chinese remainder theorem owes its name to ancient Chinese mathematicians’ interest in the arrangement problems it describes. Originally a source of puzzles, it has since found more practical applications, particularly in cryptography.
Goldberg Variations and Exercices de style: maths and music
Bach delighted in weaving combinatorial and geometric structures into his compositions. His famous Goldberg Variations are a masterpiece of the genre. Vincent Rouquès, a Paris-based choirmaster, drew on this richness by pairing them with Raymond Queneau's Exercices de style...
The inverse of the exponential function
The introduction of logarithms can be traced back to the Renaissance, when they were used to solve computational problems. They have since found more theoretical applications and today even lie at the heart of some cryptographic systems—and hence of our computers.
A detour through complex numbers
Taking a detour, part way through a proof, by way of complex numbers can lead to one of those redeeming "mathematical surprises".
A bit of etymology | Tangente
The vocabulary specific to complex numbers is the work of several mathematicians across the centuries
The zeta function and the Riemann hypothesis
The most important problem in contemporary mathematics can be stated in entirely elementary terms, requiring only a rudimentary knowledge of complex analysis. Despite mathematicians' titanic efforts, the Riemann hypothesis remains stubbornly out of reach.
Logjam flaw in the HTTPS protocol | Tangente
A Franco-American team of researchers has just cheated… but for a good cause! Their goal? To verify the cryptographic mechanisms used to secure communications on the Internet.
The luthiers' secret code decrypted | Tangente
The luthiers of the Parisian house Gand & Bernardel, a famous dynasty of violin makers from 1795 to the Second World War, had a code that let them work on their slips with complete discretion.
Tangente turns 30: 30 ways to support it
The magazine Tangente, which is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary, has become an international benchmark and a fixture in the world of mathematics. Yet your support is more vital than ever to keep it going.
Betting on the presidential election: readers vs. the polls
Many of you took part in the challenge of coming as close as possible to the presidential election result. The winner is Élisabeth Pietravalle. Far behind, Ipsos proves to be the best polling institute.
Journey into the heart of a mathematical classic
If you know how to fill in Pascal's triangle, you may be less aware of the treasures it contains. Arithmetic, geometric, combinatorial: it has no shortage of astonishing mathematical properties! And there are undoubtedly many more still to be discovered…
Pascal's triangle: a thousand-year history | Tangente
"Pascal's triangle" may have been discovered by Indians more than two thousand years ago. It reached the Arab-Muslim world and China as early as the 11th century. It did not appear in Europe until the 16th century, when Blaise Pascal began to study it rigorously.
Betting on the presidential election: probability and polls | Tangente
To mark the French presidential election, which coincides with Tangente's feature on betting, we are inviting our readers to bet… on the candidates' shares of the vote! It is free to enter, with thousands of euros in vouchers to be won.
Espace de l'art concret: maths and geometry | Tangente
In Mouans-Sartoux, in the Alpes-Maritimes, a strange apple-green cubic building catches the traveller's eye. Dedicated to concrete art, it gives pride of place to geometric abstraction. In particular, works by François Morellet and Josef Albers can be found there.
When economics illustrates matrix algebra
Economists' data can often be arranged in rectangular tables that can be manipulated according to precise rules tied to the mathematical concept of linearity. Matrix algebra can thus be illustrated with concrete examples drawn from economics.